The most common example of social trading is when individual investors follow successful traders on social trading platforms and copy their trades. This can help investors who lack the time, experience, or confidence to invest on their own to achieve similar returns to more experienced traders. But, if you’ve ever traded stocks or crypto on Robinhood, and immediately received a prompt letting you know which of your friends also bought that stock earlier that same day, then you’ve experienced social investing. Or, if you’ve ever found yourself knee-deep in a Reddit thread debating the merits of bottom-up versus top-down company analysis, then you’ve experienced social investing as well.

For better or for worse, financial influencers play a significant role in the trend of social investing because they have established a following and built a reputation for their perceived knowledge and expertise in the financial markets. They are adept at using social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Youtube to share their investment strategies, insights, opinions, and ideas with their followers. 

On this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Manning Field, CEO of Follow, a new social investment startup encouraging investors to bolster and diversify their portfolios by mirroring the trades of today’s top financial creators. The pair share their differing opinions on the rise of fin-fluencers, the so-called Reddit rebellion, and the expected long-term impact of social investing on a generation of newer, younger investors.

Manning Field discusses: 

• The role of social media in the future of investing
• The importance of vetting financial advice before acting on it
• Younger investors’ preference for finfluencers 
• What it means to construct portfolios of the future

Connect With Manning:

• LinkedIn: Manning Field
• Follow

Connect With Malcolm Ethridge:

• The Tech Money Podcast 
• LinkedIn: Malcolm Ethridge
• Connect with Malcolm 
• @MalcolmOnMoney

About Our Guest:

Manning Field is the Chief Executive Officer at Follow. He previously worked as the Chief Operations Officer at Acorns. Prior to Acorns, he launched market-leading products and programs at JPMorgan Chase like Chase Sapphire, Chase Freedom and Chase Ultimate Rewards, and was named an Ad Age "40 Under 40." He spent four years in Beijing,China, as CMO of JPMorgan Chase's consumer team and while there, founded a local credit card business. During his 18 year tenure at Chase, Manning oversaw many departments including Branding, Advertising, Product Development, Marketing, Corporate Development, Innovation, Sales Strategy, and, lastly, as the Managing Director of Loyalty Innovation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com

Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com